Called both comes and marchio by Folcwine [Gesta
abbatum S. Bertini Sithiensium, c. 98, MGH SS 13: 624
(writing in the middle of the tenth century)], Baldwin II is
presumed to have succeeded his father Baldwin I at the latter's
death in 879 [Ann. Vedast. 43-4]. The early years of
Baldwin II were marked by major Viking incursions, and their army
wintered at Gand (Ghent) in 881 [Ann. Vedast. 51].
Baldwin first appears in the contemporary records in 888, when,
along with archbishop Foulques (of Reims) and abbot Raoul (of
Cysoing, Saint-Bertin, and Saint-Vaast), he was among those who
asked king Arnulf of Germany to come and take the kingship of the
western Frankish kingdom [Ann. Vedast. 65], but he
submitted to Eudes in the same year [Ann. Vedast. 66].
When Raoul died on 5 January 892 [Ann. Vedast. 70;
Folcwine, c. 97, MGH SS 13: 623], Baldwin sent messengers to king
Eudes, demanding the abbacies of his cousin (consobrinus)
Raoul (son of Eberhard of Friuli and Gisèle, daughter of emperor
Louis the Pious) for himself ["..., Balduinus itaque
comes legatos dirigit ad Odonem regem, mandans cum sua gratia
velle tenere abbatias sui consobrini." Ann. Vedast,
s.a. 892, p. 71; Folcwine, c. 98, MGH SS 13: 624]. Baldwin
appears to have held Artois and the abbacy of Saint-Vaast until
899, when Arras was taken by Charles the Simple [Ann. Vedast.
81; Grierson (1938), 257-8]. In 900, archbishop Foulques was
assassinated by a certain Winemar, at the order of Baldwin II [Ann.
Vedast. 82; Folcwine, c. 98, MGH SS 13: 624; Ann. Bland.
16], after which Baldwin was recognized as lay abbot of
Saint-Bertin by the king ["Baldwinus autem post haec
abbatiam optinuit regia donatione." Folcwine, c. 98,
MGH SS 13: 625]. Folcwine includes Boulogne and Ternois (along
with the abbacy of Saint-Bertin) among the lands left by Baldwin
II to his second son Adalolf [Folcwine, c. 103, MGH SS 13: 627],
and Baldwin is called "princeps Morinorum" by
Richer [i, 16, MGH SS 3: 574]. The time when Baldwin obtained
Boulogne is not clearly set out in the sources. The year 896 has
been often given by virtue of the fact that a certain Herkengerus
appears to have lost his possessions in 896 as a result of the
activities of Baldwin's brother Raoul (who was killed later in
the same year) [Ann. Vedast. 77], and there are
indications that Erkenger was a count of Boulogne ["Ex
sancti enim Chiliani pontificis et martyris articulis manuum
gaudmus habere nobiscum; quas reliquas Erkengerus comes et
Arnoldus de Germania Bononiensem civitatem deportaverunt."
Ex sermone de adventu SS. Wandregisili, Ansberti et Vulfranni,
c. 14, MGH SS 15, part 2: 629; "Carolus rex regno
Francorum occidentalium leges dictavit, quem postea Heribertus
comes Viromanuorum dolo captum Peronae posuit in custodia. Quo
adhuc imperium obtnente, Bononiensium comes fuit Erkengarius,
genere et potentia non parum egregius, in cuius etiam ditione
Rentica fuit predium, in quo beati Bertulfi corpus erat
tumulatum.", Ex Vita Bertulfi Renticensis, c.
22, MGH SS 15, part 2: 635]. When Baldwin became count of Ternois
depends on whether the abbacy of Saint-Bertin and the countship
of Ternois were separate before 892. If, as Grierson argued, the
offices were separate before Baldwin usurped the abbacy of
Saint-Bertin, then the acquisition of the countship of Ternois
might even extend back to the time of Baldwin I [Grierson
(1938)]. It has been widely held that Baldwin was lay-abbot of
Saint-Pierre de Gand, based on the annal for 892 in Annales
Blandinienses ["Rodulfus obiit. Baldwinus
successit." Ann. Bland. 15; see e.g., Ganshof
(1937), 383], but Grierson pointed out that this annal was
probably based on lost annals from Saint-Bertin (known to be one
of the sources of Annales Blandinienses), and probably
refers to the abbacy of Saint-Bertin. In another paper, he argued
that the abbot of Saint-Pierre de Gand during this time was the
later king Robert I [Grierson (1939)]. It is said that Baldwin's
epithet of Calvus was not due to being bald, but to
emphasize his descent from his maternal grandfather Charles the
Bald (Karolus Calvus) ["Successit illi in
comitatu Flandriae filius ejus Balduinus, qui se Calvum nominari
fecit, non quia calvus actu fuerit, sed ut, nomen avi sui Karoli
Calvi suscitans, nomen ac generis nobilitatem exalteret."
Chronicon sancti Bavonis, s.a. 980, Corpus Chron.
Fland., 1: 495]. Baldwin II was succeeded by his eldest son
Arnulf I in Flanders, and by his younger son Adalolf in Boulogne,
Ternois, and St. Bertin ["Markam vero eius filii eius
inter se diviserunt; et Arnulfus, qui maior natu erat, Flandriam,
Adalolfus vero civitatem Bononiam et regionem Taruennicam
pariterque Sancti Bertini suscepit abbatiam.",
Folcwine, c. 103, MGH SS 13: 627].

Date of Birth: Unknown, but probably not long after his
parents' marriage (or elopement), say ca. 864.
Place of Birth: Unknown.

See Commentary section for an alleged marriage of one
of the daughters, and for supposed additional children.

Grandchild (nephew of
Arnulf I):

Hildebrand, living 961, abbot of
Saint-Bertin and Saint-Vaast.Folcwine, c. 108, refers to him as a nepos of
Arnulf I [MGH SS 13: 629], and then (later in the same passage)
refers to Arnulf as avunculus of Hildebrand [ibid.,
630]. It is unknown which of Arnulf's siblings was Hildebrand's
parent, although his two sisters would make much more likely
candidates than his brother.

Vanderkindere accepts the account, and suggests
that this Albert alias Ascelin appears to correspond to
an Alberic appearing in the list of bishops of Paris between 941
and about 954 [Vanderkindere (1902), 1: 286-7]. [See also
Brandenburg, 89 (with a suggestion that his existence is not
certain); Werner, 460 (accepting his existence, but not as a
bishop of Paris).] However, in addition to the lateness of the
sources, there is the problem of likely contamination from the
story of Ascelin/Albert, bishop of Paris, ca. 1016 - ca. 1018,
said by the history of the bishops of Cambrai (an eleventh
century source) to be an illegitimate son of a count Baldwin of
Flanders [Gesta episcoporum Cameracensium i, 110,
MGH SS 7: 448; see the page of Baldwin III]. Given that the later
Ascelin/Albert is clearly historical, there is good reason to
doubt the information about the present Albert/Ascelin.

These comments about Albert should be read in conjunction with
the comments on the page of Baldwin
IIIconcerning the latter's
alleged illegitimate son Ascelin alias Albert.

Falsely attributed
daughters:
Anselme lists the following three daughters for Baldwin II
[Anselme 2: 714]. Guinichilde is a variant of an erroneous
daughter who has also been falsely assigned to Baldwin I (and is discussed on his page).
Egilfred and Elstrude (for whom Anselme cites Oudegherst) may be
based on very corrupt misreadings of the names of the two genuine
daughters Ealhswid and Ermentrude.

Guinichilde, m. Wifred,
count of Barcelona.

Egilfred.

Elstrude. As "Elfstrude", a
daughter of this name also appears in Tanner (2004), 292 (table),
which is evidently an error of a different sort, since Egilfred
does not appear in the table. (See below)

Falsely attributed
nephew:

Hernequin, 9th century, count of
Boulogne (existence
unlikely)[Latrie (1889), 1564, where he is stated to
be a nephew of Baudouin le Chauve, and is given a wife Berthe,
daughter of Helgaud I, count of Ponthieu, and a son and successor
Regnier; see Vanderkindere (1902), 411]

Additional claims recently given in
Tanner (2004):
Some supposed additions to the family tree of Baldwin II can be
found in Heather Tanner's recent book on the counts of Boulogne,
which quite naturally also contains much on the counts of
Flanders. The genealogical tables at the end of the book give
many relationship which do not seem to be documented by any clear
evidence, although the very inadequate index (which does not list
Elfstrude, Evrard, Hilduin, or Ricsinde, among many others) makes
the various claims difficult to check. In addition to the false
daughter "Elfstrude" mentioned above, Baldwin's
daughter Ermentrude is erroneously called "Ermengard"
throughout Tanner's book. The following claims made by Tanner
would require additional evidence.

Supposed daughter (no
evidence supplied):

Ricsinde, m. Evrard,
advocate of Saint-Bertin. [Tanner (2004),
292 (table), qualified with a "dotted line", which
denotes illegitimacy on other tables]Everhardus (evidently the same as
an Everhardus advocatus in the same passage) and Riksinda
are named by Folcwine as the parents of Adalolf (II), abbot of
Saint-Bertin [Folcwine, c. 126, MGH SS 13: 628]. This appears to
be an onomastic conjecture based on the name Adalolf, but it
seems likely that Folcwine would have mentioned a relationship if
there was one (as he did with abbot Hildebrand, as seen above).

Supposed marriage of
one daughter (no evidence supplied):

NN, m. Hilduin, count
of Tournai. [Tanner (2004), 292 (table)]Without supplying a reason, Tanner states
that "... it is probable that Hilduin married one of Baldwin
II's daughters Ealhswid or Ermengard (sic)."
[Tanner (2004), 56, n. 143] Since Hildouin is given a son named
Arnulf on the table on page 292 [presumably the "Arnulfus
filius Hilduuini" who appears in a charter of 5 March
981, Cart. S.-Pierre de Gand, 1: 51 (#54)], this appears to be an
onomastically based conjecture.

Supposed relative (no
evidence supplied):

Waltger/Walcher, d. 892, count of Laon,
lay-abbot of Saint-Pierre de Gand and Saint-Bavo de Gand.["Baldwin, supported by his relative
Waltger of Laon, ...", Tanner (2004), 53] This claim might
just be the result of a careless reading of Balduinus as
the antecedent of eius in the Annales Vedastini
under the year 892, where Walkerus is called eius
consobrinus, with rex being the correct antecedent
of eius ["Balduinus Atrebatis iter arripiens
per aliam viam antecessit regem venitque in Bruociam, atque ita
rex sine aliquo effectu rediit ad loca sua. Nam antea Walkerus
eius Consobrinus ..." Ann. Vedast., 72; The
chronicle of Regino, under the same year, shows that Waltgar was
a relative of king Eudes: "... Waltgarius comes, nepos
Odonis regis, filius scilicet avunculi eius Adalhelmi, ..."
Regino, Chronicon, s.a. 892, MGH SS 1: 604]. However,
this remark of Tanner's might instead come from some vague
references in the secondary literature that the counts of
Flanders and Laon were related [see the page of Baldwin I].